God appeared to Solomon that very night and said, “I accept your prayer; yes, I have chosen this place as a temple for sacrifice, a house of worship. If I ever shut off the supply of rain from the skies or order the locusts to eat the crops or send a plague on my people, and my people, my God-defined people, respond by humbling themselves, praying, seeking my presence, and turning their backs on their wicked lives, I’ll be there ready for you: I’ll listen from heaven, forgive their sins, and restore their land to health.

From now on I’m alert day and night to the prayers offered at this place. Believe me, I’ve chosen and sanctified this Temple that you have built: My Name is stamped on it forever; my eyes are on it and my heart in it always. As for you, if you live in my presence as your father David lived, pure in heart and action, living the life I’ve set out for you, attentively obedient to my guidance and judgments, then I’ll back your kingly rule over Israel””make it a sure thing on a sure foundation. The same covenant guarantee I gave to David your father I’m giving to you, namely, ‘You can count on always having a descendant on Israel’s throne.”

I read these words this morning in The Message (2 Chronicles 7:14) and felt encouraged and enlivened. God is at work in our land. Just yesterday I was talking to close friends who were telling me about a conference in London of 45,000 people praying for revival in our nation. They also told me of local churches thriving and bursting at the seams. They told me of other conferences dying through lack of prayer, focus and humility.

If we humble ourselves and seek the Lord, HE WILL HEAR US and HE WILL HEAL OUR LAND.